Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A controller configured to sense an input object in a sensing region of a sensing device, the controller comprising: drive circuitry coupled to a first transmitter electrode and a second transmitter electrode and configured to simultaneously apply a first modulation signal to the first transmitter electrode and a second modulation signal to the second transmitter electrode, wherein the first modulation signal is based on a first one of a plurality of distinct digital codes and the second modulation signal is based on a second one of the plurality of distinct digital codes; and receive circuitry coupled to a plurality of receiver electrodes and configured to receive resultant signals with the plurality of receiver electrodes, the resultant signals comprising electrical effects associated with the first and second modulation signals; wherein the controller is configured to determine positional information for the input object based on the on the resultant signals.
2. The controller of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to determine the positional information for a second input object in the sensing region based on the resultant signals.
3. The controller of claim 2 , wherein the first and second input objects comprise fingers.
4. The controller of claim 2 , wherein the first input object comprises a part of a human hand and the second input object comprises a stylus.
5. The controller of claim 2 , wherein the controller is configured to reject information relating to the second input object.
6. The controller of claim 1 , wherein the receive circuitry is configured to receive second resultant signals with the plurality of receiver electrodes and wherein the controller is further configured to adjust a frequency of the first and second modulation signals based on observed noise in the second resultant signals.
7. The controller of claim 1 , wherein the drive circuitry is configured to simultaneously apply the first modulation signal to the first transmitter electrode and the second modulation signal to the second transmitter electrode during a first operating mode and simultaneously apply a third modulation signal to the first transmitter electrode and the second transmitter electrode during a second operating mode.
8. The controller of claim 1 , further comprising: a demodulator configured to demodulate the resultant signals.
9. The controller of claim 1 , wherein the first one of the plurality of distinct digital codes comprises a shifted digital bit sequence of the second one of the plurality of distinct digital codes.
10. The controller of claim 1 , wherein simultaneously applying the first modulation signal and the second modulation signal comprises frequency modulating a carrier signal according to the first one and the second one of the plurality of distinct digital codes.
11. The controller of claim 1 , wherein simultaneously applying the first modulated signal and the second modulated signal comprises one of: phase modulating a carrier signal according to the first one and the second one of the plurality of distinct digital codes; and amplitude modulating a carrier signal according to the first one and the second one of the plurality of distinct digital codes.
12. The controller of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of distinct digital codes are mathematically independent.
13. The controller of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of distinct digital codes is selected from a group consisting of Pseudo-Random codes, Walsh-Hadamard codes, m-sequences, Gold codes, Kasami codes, Barker codes, and delay line multiple tap sequences.
14. The controller of claim 1 , wherein the first one and the second one of the plurality of distinct digital codes define the first modulated signal to be in phase with the second modulated signal during a first time, and the first modulated signal to be out of phase with the second modulated signal during a second time.
15. The controller of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to determine proximity information for the first input object based on the resultant signals.
16. The controller of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to determine a gesture based on the positional information for the first input object.
17. A sensing device comprising: a plurality of transmitter electrodes; a plurality of receiver electrodes; and a controller individually coupled to each of the plurality of transmitter electrodes and the plurality of receiver electrodes, the controller configured to: simultaneously apply a first modulation signal to a first transmitter electrode of the plurality of transmitter electrodes and a second modulation signal to a second transmitter electrode of the plurality of transmitter electrodes, wherein the first modulation signal is based on a first one of a plurality of distinct digital codes and the second modulation signal is based on a second one of the plurality of distinct digital codes; receive resultant signals with the plurality of receiver electrodes, wherein the resultant signals comprise electrical effects associated with the first and second modulation signals; and determine positional information for each of a first input object and a second input object in a sensing region of the sensing device based on the on the resultant signals.
18. The sensing device of claim 17 , wherein the plurality of transmitter electrodes and the plurality of receiver electrodes are configured to be non-moveable with respect to each other.
19. The sensing device of claim 17 , wherein the plurality of transmitter electrodes and the plurality of receiver electrodes are disposed in a non-overlapping arrangement on one side of a substrate.
20. The sensing device of claim 17 , wherein the plurality of transmitter electrodes and the plurality of receiver electrodes are disposed in an overlapping arrangement.
21. The sensing device of claim 17 , wherein simultaneously applying the first modulated signal and the second modulated signal comprises one of: frequency modulating a carrier signal according to the first one and the second one of the plurality of distinct digital codes; phase modulating a carrier signal according to the first one and the second one of the plurality of distinct digital codes; and amplitude modulating a carrier signal according to the first one and the second one of the plurality of distinct digital codes.
22. The sensing device of claim 17 , wherein the plurality of distinct digital codes are mathematically independent.
23. The sensing device of claim 17 , further comprising a substantially rigid surface disposed over the plurality of transmitter electrodes and the plurality of receiver electrodes.
24. The sensing device of claim 17 , further comprising a plurality of signal paths configured to individually couple the controller with each of the transmitter electrodes, respectively.
25. The sensing device of claim 17 , wherein the plurality of transmitter electrodes are disposed on a flexible substrate.
26. A method for capacitive sensing, the method comprising: simultaneously applying a first modulation signal to a first transmitter electrode and a second modulation signal to a second transmitter electrode, wherein the first modulation signal is based on a first one of a plurality of distinct digital codes and the second modulation signal is based on a second one of the plurality of distinct digital codes; receiving resultant signals with a plurality of receiver electrodes, wherein the resultant signals comprise electrical effects associated with the first and second modulation signals; and determining positional information for an input object based on the on the resultant signals.
27. The method of claim 26 , further comprising: determining positional information for a second input object based on the resultant signals; and rejecting the positional information relating to the second object.
28. The method of claim 26 , further comprising receiving second resultant signals with the plurality of receiver electrodes and wherein the controller is further configured to adjust a frequency of the first and second modulation signals based on observed noise in the second resultant signals.
29. The method of claim 26 , further comprising simultaneously applying a first modulation signal to the first transmitter electrode and a second modulation signal to the second transmitter electrode during a first operating mode, and simultaneously applying a third modulation signal to the first transmitter electrode and the second transmitter electrode during a second operating mode.
30. The method of claim 26 , further comprising determining a gesture based on the positional information for the first input object.
Unknown
August 19, 2014
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